Chamber and committees

I am arranging to obtain the relevant information from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency since its inception in April 1996 and shall write to you in due course.I shall place a copy of my letter in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe).

The possible effects of pollen transfer are fully considered in the risk assessment undertaken by the independent Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment (ACRE). As part of its considerations, ACRE takes into account issues such as farm ecology, farming practice and biodiversity and provides detailed limits and conditions for growing which are set out in a schedule and which must be adhered to by consent holders.

The possible effects of pollen transfer are fully considered in the risk assessment undertaken by the independent Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment (ACRE). As part of its considerations, ACRE takes into account issues such as farm ecology, farming practice and biodiversity and provides detailed limits and conditions for growing which are set out in a schedule and which must be adhered to by consent holders.

The Freight Facilities Grants awarded over the last three years are as follows:

Deanside Transit, Hillington	£3,045,000
Safeway Stores, Bellshill-Inverness	£680,000
Banks & Co. Ltd, Watsonhead	£873,489
L.A.W. Mining, New Cumnock	£2,548,000
TDG Nexus, Grangemouth	£3,233,334
TOTAL	£10,379,823

The Grants paid to date are:

Deanside Transit, Hillington	£400,000 paid 1997-98
Safeway Stores, Bellshill-Inverness	£680,000 paid 1998-99
L.A.W. Mining, New Cumnock	£1,250,000 paid 1999-2000
TOTAL	£2,330,000.

The Scottish Executive regularly receives information from the Society of Chief Officers of Transportation in Scotland (which represents the 32 local authorities) as part of the Society's surveys of Councils' bridge assessment and strengthening programmes. Government support for capital expenditure on roads and transport is included within the single allocation which covers all non-housing capital programmes. It is for local authorities to prioritise projects across the range of these programmes and to allocate the necessary funding from the resources available to them. There are no plans to provide local authorities with additional resources for this purpose.

The average time for processing the applications for Freight Facilities Grant so far awarded is approximately 8 months. The time taken is determined by the quality of information provided by the applicant and the nature of the project.

The Scottish Executive is revising the guide for potential applicants and related publicity material for the Freight Facilities Grant scheme to increase further its profile in Scotland. The revised guide and related material will be available for financial year 2000-01.

The criteria used were road safety, the impact on the environment of large signs, the cost of replacing existing signs and whether there was a significant number of Gaelic speakers in the area concerned.Following useful discussions I had on 4 October with Highland Council I decided to permit the Council to erect bilingual directional road signs on local roads throughout the Highland Council area if the Council wishes to do so within the resources at its disposal and where there is local community support.

The Scottish Executive looks to the independent Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment to set detailed risk management conditions for individual consents to grow genetically modified crops in field conditions, this includes setting relevant isolation distances. The Committee considers carefully all relevant scientific evidence and keeps its advice under continuous review.

It is not in Scotland's interest for me to turn my private contacts with UK Government colleagues into public diplomacy by "sound bite". I can, however, assure Parliament that we have been second to none in standing up for Scotland's interests.